Kudankulam criticality guarantees future success for joint projects

First criticality marks the completion of sophisticated engineering work carried out by professionals, for it is a crucial step in the operation of a nuclear power plant. Source: Press Photo

The attainment of criticality at the first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Plant is a major milestone and should not be underestimated.

Last week,
the first reactor of the Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project in the southern
Indian state of Tamil Nadu attained criticality, a development lauded equally in
Russia and India.

Nuclear
engineers always look forward to the first criticality the way doctors look
forward to hearing a newborn baby cry for the very first time. If a power unit
attains first criticality then the unit is considered operational. There is the
opinion that the nuclear plant is 50 percent reactor and 50 percent the casing,
pumps and other equipment. I believe first criticality to be the heart of the
reactor – in our case, a healthy and safe heart, because it is the most
up-to-date project and meets all safety requirements, both passive and active.

We
shouldn’t underestimate this achievement, which is a milestone for nuclear
engineers, investors and consumers in India, because India needs nuclear power
to improve its living standards and spur economic growth. This process is much
like the launch of a carrier rocket, which has not only passed all atmospheric
layers, but also successfully reached the intended orbit.

I consider
the attainment of first criticality to be a serious guarantee of our shared
success and prospects for the future. We have pursued the unification of
approach towards nuclear projects recently, but that does not mean we will no
longer use a customised approach to safety systems at nuclear power plants. We
always factor in the peculiarities of the location, in our case, of the
southern Indian region with its storms and typhoons and other acts of nature,
when we work on a nuclear plant project. You cannot use the same project in
various climates and make no adjustments. Our nuclear projects are safe in all
respects – the time of service, climatic conditions and population – because
all parameters are accounted for when we work out a single safety system for a
project.

First
criticality marks the completion of sophisticated engineering work carried out
by professionals, for it is a crucial step in the operation of a nuclear power
plant. We can now think about prospects for the future and new reactors, an
issue that is high on India’s agenda.

Dr Nikolai Kuzelev is
Deputy Director of Anthropogenic Diagnostics Research at the Research Institute
of Introscopy of MSIA Spectrum, and Vice-President of the Russian Society for
Non-Destructive Testing and Technical Diagnostics.